Presley Gerber On Following In His Mother, Cindy Crawford's Modelling Footsteps

Presley Gerber is in a Hugo top, jeans, chain necklace and bag.

Presley Gerber does not need the famous last name of his supermodel mother Cindy Crawford to prove his stellar pedigree. The 19-year-old, who is the elder of two children, is a spitting image of Crawford. A clear winner in the genetic lottery, Gerber takes after his mother’s distinguishable features: high and defined cheekbones that segue into a chiseled jawline, a strong oblong facial structure softened by alluring brown, almond shaped eyes and her distinctive beauty mark that sits above the lip.

By default, Gerber ticks off all the requisites of a model. With these striking good looks followed an implicit expectation that it was but a matter of time before he joined the line-up of second generation supermodel children who go on to follow in the footsteps of their famous parents. These presumptions, however, deviated from the career path Gerber was initially set on carving out for himself. He had little idea about the supermodel status of his mother, much less, any intention of going down the same career trajectory.

“When someone like that is your mom, you don’t really notice because that’s the only thing that you have really seen, so I never really understood that she was famous,” recalls Gerber.

Lukasz Pukowiec

Presley Gerber in a Hugo shirt, blazer, pants and shoes.

“I definitely had no idea I was going to model. I knew I wanted to start a business. I thought I was going to go to college till about senior year [in high school] and then I started modelling. It introduced me to a whole new world and I’m kind of taking it from there,” he continues.

The fork in the road has taken Gerber on the highway to the top ranks of the modelling industry. Since making his editorial debut alongside his sister, Kaia Gerber, in a spread photographed by Bruce Weber for CR Fashion Book four years ago, Gerber has since gone on to being signed by internationally coveted agency, IMG Models.

While Gerber might have once envisioned himself inheriting his father’s entrepreneurial chops, he has found fulfilment in rolling with the punches.

Lukasz Pukowiec

Gerber in a Hugo jacket, blazer, pants and shoes.

“The thing I enjoy most [about modelling] I’d say, is the travel. By now I have been to a lot of places but I still like it a lot and I still have Australia on my list of places that I’d like to visit,” says Gerber.

Over the span of his four short years in the industry, Gerber has built an extensive resume that runs the gamut from high street to high-end luxury labels. In 2018, within his portfolio of diverse commercial work, Gerber starred in the joint Topshop and Topman campaign and in the same year, was the face of Calvin Klein’s Fall campaign alongside his sister. He was also featured in Yves Saint Laurent’s Black Opium fragrance campaign. Equally sought after in the editorial arena, he has fronted the works of industry luminaires like Collier Schorr and Tyrone Lebon.

Lukasz Pukowiec

Gerber in a Hugo coat.

Like a transformative canvas, Gerber’s wide-reaching appeal lies in his ability to morph from one persona to another as per the brief. In front of the cameras, he can just as easily cut the figure of an aloof vagabond or play the role of an elusive man of mystery.

Born in Brentwood, an affluent neighborhood in the west side of Los Angeles, California, but raised along in Malibu, Gerber when not putting on a show, leans towards the former. When the T Singapore team caught up with the burgeoning model in Berlin, Gerber had earlier walked the Spring/Summer ’19 runway showcase for Hugo, the youthful subsidiary of German luxury fashion house Hugo Boss, for which he also stars in the season’s campaign.

Lukasz Pukowiec

Gerber in a Hugo shirt and blazer.

Gerber is punctual. Arriving at the set, he saunters in casually, with his golden, tousled hair occasionally casting off an ethereal glow when it catches the light. A natural in front of the camera, he moves from one pose to another insouciantly. His attitude, too, leaning towards a blithe spirit.

“I believe in doing anything that makes you happy. Do what makes you happy,” he says of the principle that underscores his belief system. Characteristically, a tattoo on his forearm — Gerber’s first — reads “be grateful”.

Lukasz Pukowiec

Gerber in a Hugo bucket hat, shirt, pants, fanny pack and shoes.

Gerber’s world, attributable to the naivety of youth or a wholesome upbringing, is filtered through untainted positivity. “I just kind of want to spread a little positivity to everyone,” says Gerber. His easy-going disposition is not to be mistaken as a blatant disregard for life.

An introvert by nature, Gerber is visibly pensive as he pauses in between questions, eyes darting from side to side as though running ideas through this mind before verbalising them. When quizzed about the future, he lets out a nervous laughter before he says: “Oh man, if I could tell you I probably wouldn’t have so many thoughts going through my head all the time.”

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